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Biodiversity Conservation – Role of Sacred Groves

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Biodiversity Conservation – Role of Sacred Groves BIODIVERSITY Biological + Diversity = Biodiversity Dr. Ashalata Devi Assistant Professor Dept. of Environmental Science Tezpur University 1 Unit: Biodiversity Content • Definition • Biodiversity principles, values and threats • Protecting biodiversity: legal and non-legal bindings • Biodiversity of NE India 2 During the 1980s, prominent environmental biologists Edward Wilson became increasingly active and warned the public about the impending crisis of species loss due to rapid deforestation of the species-rich tropical rain forest. In 1986 Wilson and others convened the National Forum on Biodiversity to discuss various problems associated with ecosystem loss. Calling attention to the scope of the crisis, that forum’s organizers coined a new word: biodiversity. The term “biodiversity” was derived from “biological” and “diversity,” and refers to the total diversity of all life in a given locale — one as small as a backyard (or smaller) or as large as the entire planet Earth. 3 Why should we care about preserving biodiversity? Environmental biologists have outlined two general reasons. 1. Utilitarian 2. Non-utilitarian Related to both the utilitarian and the non-utilitarian reasons is that biodiversity is essentially irreplaceable. 4 And why were we talking so much about Biodiversity? Simple. The world has begun, relatively recently, to lose species and habitats at an ever-increasing and alarming rate. Why? Because of us This is often referred to as the 6th extinction crisis, after the 5 known extinction waves in geological history. 5 Major Five Extinction events include: Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event (75% of all species including the dinosaurs) about 65 million years ago. Triassic–Jurassic Extinction Event (60% of all species including most Achosaurs, Therapsids, and large Amphibians) about 205 million years ago. Permian–Triassic Extinction Event (96% of Aquatic Species including most of the sessile species; and 70% of land species including most Synapsids) 251 million years ago. Late Devonian Extinction Event (70% of all species including most Brachiopods and Trilobites) 360 million years ago. Ordovician–Silurian Extinction Event (80% of all species, mostly brachiopods, bivalves, echinoderms, bryozoans, and corals) 450 million years ago. 6 The consequences of the impact led to the extinction of many major groups of animals, most notably the dinosaurs. This mass extinction marked the end of the Cretaceous (K) period and the beginning of the Tertiary (T), and is known as the K/T extinction. 7 Figure: A re-creation by NASA scientists of the impact made by an asteroid at Chiczulub, on the Yucatan Peninsula. This impact is thought to be the cause of the K/t mass extinction 65 million years ago. 8 Figure 1: Timeline of mass extinction events. The five named vertical bars indicate mass extinction events. Black rectangles (drawn to scale) represent global reef gaps and brick-pattern shapes show times of prolific reef growth (Veron 2008). 9 What is biodiversity or biological diversity? - the sum of total of life forms at all levels of organization in biological system. • Article 2 of the CBD defines “Biological diversity" means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”. • According to IUCN in 1998, “the variety and variability of species of their population, the variety of species of their life forms, the diversity of the complex association with species with their interaction and their ecological process which influences perform.” Biodiversity is defined as “the intrinsically-inbuilt plus the externally- imposed variability in and among living organisms existing in terrestrial, marine and other ecosystem at a specific period of time”. Contd. 10 The most current estimates are that there are about 1.4 to 1.6 million described species. Roughly 1.4 million species are known to science, but because many species are undescribed, an estimated 10-30 million species likely exists on earth. Currently about 1.9 million species are known, but this is thought to be a significant underestimate of the total number of species. • Much of the known biodiversity is located in the tropics. In general, species diversity greatly increases as one moves toward the equator: specific hotspots of biodiversity are located in tropical rain forests. • Even though they account for only about 7 % of the land area on the planet, tropical rain forests are home to around half the known species on earth. 11 Estimated Number of Described Species Nematoda Actinopterygii Other Vertebrata Bacteria 20,000 (1.1%) 23,712 (1.4%) 27,199 (1.6%) 9,021 (0.5%) Other Eucarya Archaea 36,702 (2.1%) 259 (0.01%) Crustacea 38,839 (2.2%) Other Plantae 49,530 (2.8%) Arachnida 74,445 (4.3%) Insecta 827,875 (47.3%) Other invertebrate Metazoa 82,047 (4.7%) Fungi 100,800 (5.8%) Stramenopiles 105,922 (6.1%) Mollusca 117,495 (6.7%) Angiospermae 233,885 (13.4%) 12 13 14 Levels of Biodiversity Biodiversity is usually considered at three hierarchical levels i.e. Genetic, Species and Community and Ecosystem levels. Biodiversity, therefore, is commonly considered at three different levels: 1. Within species (intraspecific) diversity; usually measured in terms of genetic differences between individuals or populations. 2. Species (interspecific) diversity, measured as a combination of number and evenness of abundance of species. 3. Community or ecosystem diversity, measured as the number of different species assemblages. 15 1. Genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the sum total of genetic information, contained in the genes of individuals of plants, animals and microorganisms that inhabit the earth. It is needed by any species in order to maintain reproductive vitality, resistance to disease and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Genetic diversity within a species often increases with environmental variability. It enables a population to adapt to its environment and to respond to natural selection. The amount of genetic variation is the basis of speciation. Genetic variability has made it possible to produce new breed of crops plants and domestic animals, and in the world allowed species to adapt to changing conditions. 16 An Example of Genetic Variation Brassica oleracea var. acephala (kale) Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera (brussels sprouts) Brassica oleracea var. capitata (cabbage) Brassica oleracea var. botrytis (broccoli) Source: ©AMNH-CBC Brassica oleracea var. botrytis (cauliflower) 17 2. Species diversity: • A group of organisms genetically so similar, that they can interbreed and produce fertile offsprings is called a species. • The species diversity is usually measured in terms of the total number of species within discrete geographical boundaries. “species are groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups” (Mayr 1963) • Species are distinct units of diversity each playing a specific role in the ecosystem. • In nature, both the number and kind of species, as well as the number of individuals per species vary, leading to greater diversity. 18 The different sample areas showing species richness (sample area 1), Species evenness (sample area 2) and diversity due to taxonomically unrelated species (sample area 3). 19 Species diversity 20 3. Community-level diversity: • It is defined by the species that occupy a particular locality and the interactions between them. • It represents the collective response of species to different environmental conditions. • Biological communities such as deserts, grasslands, wetlands, and forest support the continuity of proper ecosystem functioning by providing ecological beneficial services to people. 21 Community and ecosystem diversity • Diversity at the level of community and ecosystem exists along 3 levels. • It could be within-community diversity (alpha diversity), • between-communities diversity (beta diversity) or • diversity of the habitats over the total landscape or geographical area (gamma diversity). Contd. 22 Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Whittaker (1972) described three terms for measuring biodiversity over spatial scales: alpha, beta, and gamma diversity. • Alpha Diversity refers to the diversity within a particular area or ecosystem, and is usually expressed by the number of species (i.e., species richness) in that ecosystem. • Beta diversity: a comparison of diversity between ecosystems, usually measured as the amount of species change between the ecosystems . • Gamma diversity: a measure of the overall diversity within a large region. Geographic-scale species diversity according to Hunter (2002:448) 23 Alpha, beta and gamma diversity for hypothetical species of birds (A-N) in three different ecosystems. This example is based on the hypothetical example given by Meffe et al. (2002: Table 6.1). 24 Biodiversity Principles 1. Native - Native plants and animals have evolved over time in response to the physical and biological conditions of the areas in which they occur. As a result, they are uniquely adapted to local conditions. • Native areas are also home to many unique plant and animal species which depend on these areas for food, shelter, reproduction, rest stops during migration, and refuge from predators. • Native areas (wetlands, aquatic areas, riparian areas, forests/woodlands, and grasslands) provide the most important
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